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Release Number: 17-477

For Immediate Release:

Public Information Office of Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office

September 15, 2017

Contact Person:

Public Information Office : piocommandcenter@hcso.tampa.fl.us

813-247-8060

Death Investigation

The defendant advised that the witness had been injured at the hands of the victim several times before this date.

Thursday

September 14, 2017

Time: 5:16 PM

1901 Oak Creek Circle

Lutz, Florida

Victim:

Joshua McCrayDob: 05/21/1973

Arrested:

Joshua CurryDob: 12/04/19891901 Oak Creek CircleLutz, FL

Charge: Manslaughter with a Weapon

Details:

On September 14, 2017 at approximately 5:16 p.m., the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call from a resident near 1901 Oak Creek Circle in Lutz. The resident reported a black male was laying on the ground at this location with blood on his face and he might have been shot.

HCSO patrol deputies responded and located a black male, later identified as (victim) Joshua McCray, laying on the ground behind the above listed location. Joshua McCray was bleeding from his head and chest. He was pronounced dead at approximately 5:37 p.m. HCSO patrol deputies came in contact with a black male, later identified as (defendant) Joshua Curry, and two female witnesses at a nearby apartment located within the same complex. Joshua Curry spontaneously stated "I shot him" when deputies made contact with him. One of the witnesses spontaneously stated "I shot him" when deputies made contact with her. She also complained of having anxiety and was transported to Florida Hospital for medical treatment. She was not detained in handcuffs. The other witness remained at scene.

Criminal Investigations Division detectives responded and conducted interviews with the defendant and two listed witnesses. In a post-Miranda interview, the defendant admitted he provided the witness with his .380 caliber, Hi-point handgun after she came to his residence asking to hold it for her protection. The defendant advised that the witness had been injured at the hands of the victim several times before this date. He said he called her on her cellular telephone shortly after she left his apartment and he heard a struggle ensuing over an open-line. He responded to the victim's residence and had to force entry in order to provide her aid. He stated that when he entered the residence, he observed the victim choking the witness in the living room area and trying to hit her with a blue in color gun case. He recognized this as the case he keeps his above listed firearm in. The defendant, the witness, and the victim then became engaged in a three-way physical altercation. He said that he and the witness were both trying to defeat the victim, who was much larger than each of them. The defendant then produced an expandable baton (ASP) from his pocket and struck the victim with it, trying to defeat him. He and the victim continued fighting which led out into the breezeway in front of the apartment. The defendant advised the gun case ended up on the ground during the struggle and he retrieved the gun from same and loaded it with a magazine. The victim then turned and fled from him in a westward direction and he gave chase. He said he raised the gun to chest level while pursuing the victim and fired one time in his direction. The defendant stated that his intent was to scare the victim in hopes he would not return to hurt the witness again. The defendant admitted the victim was running away from him, and was not in possession of any visible or known weapons at the time he fired the gun and shot him.

The Medical Examiner's Office responded to the scene and confirmed the victim sustained blunt impact to his head, as well as a gunshot wound to the back and advised the manner of death was homicide.

Joshua Curry was arrested and charged with Manslaughter with a Weapon.